


Days Upon the Ocean

by randomalia (spilinski)



Category: Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Band Fic, Bush plays the drums, Crack, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, everyone loves Hornblower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 10:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4219194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spilinski/pseuds/randomalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An objective observer might have said the band would never make it big with a lead singer like Hornblower, who had never yet managed to carry a tune successfully. They didn't have any objective observers, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Days Upon the Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> A rock band AU. Every fandom needs one. Also, crack.

Kennedy.

Kennedy liked to think he started the band, but some credit had to go his mother, Audrey. Around the time of Archie's thirteenth birthday she bought him an acoustic guitar for twenty pounds at Millman's, because she had decided that, indeed, the cosmic truth of the universe could be found in music and this should be discovered by everyone. Also she thought it might keep her slightly unruly son out of trouble. It wasn't a great success, but Archie seemed to love the gift, and Audrey mentally patted herself on the back any time she heard strains of 'London Bridge is Falling Down' as she ducked out the door to her Positive Auras session (Tuesdays and Fridays at the community hall on Carrick Lane). True, the tune was never quite right, but Archie was learning, and she felt sure that someday he'd be able to play the entire piece.

For his part, Kennedy certainly spent less time planning to run away to join the Armed Forces. He was still five years too young for that anyway, and all his attempts at forging a new birth certificate had gone horribly wrong.

 

Eddie.

Eddie Pellew, former (rock) artist and now manager to the (rock) stars, seemed to have pulled off the astonishing trick of becoming more famous after retirement, rather than less. This was despite the fact he had been in a band with the unfortunate name of "Pellewd", which had only had one LP and a minor hit in 1973 (the youth rebellion anthem "Cops Might Fly").

These days Eddie Pellew was more well-known for his ongoing stoush with David Bowie, and for reinventing himself as the kind of manager bands would go down on their knees to sign with. He was gruff, cutting, and made the headlines more frequently than any of his 'subordinates', as he liked to call the artists he managed, but he seemed to have a sort of magnetism which drew people in and then won them over. Those he looked after considered themselves to be lucky, perhaps even special.

The first time he felt the same way was when someone called Hornblower pushed a demo tape across Pellew's desk, and explained in careful detail exactly why he and his friend were an excellent strategic opportunity.

 

Bush.

Bush had spent many years working as a labourer in Kent, and was in general more concerned with the rising price of tobacco and the likelihood of rain stopping work, than he was about the old drum kit he kept safe in a mate's back room.

When he was a kid, fresh out of school and nothing to do, he had thought about learning to make his own guitar -- he was good with wood-working, he could always see how something was going to turn out -- but it was the drums that called to him. He loved the thunder and roll and the way they made his pulse speed up; he loved the precision of it all. Most importantly, he loved the way it was designed to be one part of something greater. Songs sounded empty without drums, and drum kits weren't meant to be played alone.

Bush had discovered early on that musical instruments didn't pay the bills, so he put his kit into storage and turned all attention to his work in construction. It was purely chance that brought him to London at the right time. It was a rare weekend trip where he caught sight of an advertisement in a trade rag: a band looking for a drummer. _Chance to tour and record album. Under the management of Pellew Enterprises_ it read.

Sitting in the sticky corner booth of a pub, Bush felt his heart quicken.

 

Hornblower.

One boring, drizzly day in first term a new boy arrived at the local comprehensive where Kennedy went to school. His name was Hornblower. He was teased, shoved and eventually threw up in science class, all on his first day, and Mr Simpson made him stay behind to polish test tubes as a result. Kennedy offered to help him, which turned out to be all that was needed to seal a friendship between them.

Hornblower's misery continued on past his first day and made him look thin and sad, but it was at least good for one thing: it drove him to write pages and pages of slightly overwrought poems about endings and unjust restrictions and the repressions of The Man. Kennedy discovered them one lunchtime when Hornblower was hiding ( _"Studying, Archie!"_ ) in the library, and said he had a sudden, strange feeling. It must have been what his mum was always going on about: a perfect alignment of the cosmos leading to divine something-or-other. A path unfolding before him, made of musical notes and badly scrawled angst. A _sign_.

Hornblower, upon hearing this, told Kennedy he was cracked in the head, and ignored him in favour of mapping out his plan for getting moved up to Advanced Mathematics.

 

Hotspur.

By the time Bush showed up to auditions, impeccably dressed and skillful, things had changed a great deal with the other members of the newly-named _Hotspur_. Kennedy's mother had moved on from her interest in spiritual awakenings and her son's good behaviour, instead throwing herself into writing ferocious editorials for a local newsletter. Eddie Pellew was inducted into the Hall of Fame and (briefly, as it would turn out) decided to reconcile with _that glittery ponce Bowie_ he had known since boyhood. Hornblower was thinking of doing a Political Studies degree by correspondence, and Kennedy himself had most definitely gotten over his fascination of discovering life-changing signs from the greater universe. His main interest now, aside from forging a musical career and avoiding his crazy family, was attempting to get into Hornblower's pants.

Of course, an objective observer might have said the band would never make it big with a lead singer like Hornblower, who had never yet managed to carry a tune successfully. They didn't have any objective observers, though. They had Kennedy and Bush, each of whom planned to follow Hornblower to the edges of the world (tour dates and venues TBA), and they had Eddie, who never said anything more affectionate than "You wore _a purple suit_ , you stupid pony, what the bloody hell were you _thinking_?", yet almost burst with silent pride any time Hornblower did something particularly clever.

It was Hornblower. That was enough.


End file.
